What Texans Players and Coach Lovie Smith Are Saying About Fourth-Quarter Collapses

Several Houston Texans players weighed in this week on late-game struggles, and how the team can work towards fixing them.

The Houston Texans entered the fourth quarter in Week 2 with a three-point lead over the Denver Broncos. 

Houston would go on to lose by seven points.

In Week 1, the Texans carried a 20-3 lead over the Indianapolis Colts into the final quarter only to surrender 17 unanswered points and finish with a tie in the opening game of the year. 

Now, at 0-1-1, the Texans have two blown fourth-quarter leads, and everyone is searching for answers.

"Somehow something just switches," said offensive lineman A.J. Cann. "We have to figure out what's causing us to not be able to finish games."

With a road trip to face the Chicago Bears coming this weekend, the team faces a winnable game but also another opportunity to come up short in their goals. 

"We have opportunities, we're in these dog fights in most of these games. We just got to figure out how to finish," Cann continued. 

"I feel like we just need to finish in the fourth quarter," receiver Nico Collins said about the issue. "It's a long game. Four quarters, that's a lot of football. I feel like the last two games haven't done that well in the fourth quarter, but I feel like it's a long season. We're going to improve on that."

Acknowledging the issue is a positive first step, but ultimately it'll rest with coach Lovie Smith and his staff to design a fourth-quarter approach to turn leads into wins. 

"When you play a couple of games, and when you don't win one-score games at the end, it's frustrating, disappointing, but you go back to work," Smith said. " You look at all the things that you can do to try to get over the hump as much as anything. That's what we've been doing."

In a struggling AFC South, the Texans aren't in a bad position. But it's hard to deny this team is two quarters away from being one of the surprise undefeated teams in the NFL after the first two weeks. 

Another week is coming, and while 3-0 isn't possible, closing out the fourth quarter with a win against the Bears would do a lot to put Houston on the right track.

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